1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a media cassette of an automatic media dispenser. More particularly, the present invention relates to a media support apparatus of a media cassette with an adjustable height and width to accommodate various sizes of media so that the media, stacked in the media cassette, can be supported more accurately.
2. Description of the Related Art
As used herein, the term “media” refers to sheets of material, such as bank notes, checks, tickets, and certificates. The term “media dispenser” refers to an apparatus which automatically supplies such media according to a customer's demand.
FIG. 12 shows a media cassette and a structure for drawing media out of the media cassette, which are employed in a related art automatic media dispenser. A media cassette 1 is installed in the automatic media dispenser. Herein, the media cassette 1 may be either integrated with, or separately formed from, the automatic media dispenser.
Media m are arranged in a stack in the media cassette 1. In the media cassette 1, the media m are pushed toward a discharge port by a push plate 3, so that they are located in tight contact with each other. The push plate 3 is supported by a spring 5 so as to push the media. The spring 5 provides an elastic force which enables the push plate 3 to push the media.
Each sheet of the media, pushed toward the discharge port by the push plate 3, comes into tight contact with a pickup roller 7 before passing through the discharge port. The pickup roller 7 is located at one end of the media cassette 1, comes into contact with and separates each sheet of the media in the media cassette 1, and then moves the separated sheet out of the media cassette 1. The pickup roller 7 may be formed either integrally with the media cassette 1, or separately from the media cassette 1 in the automatic media dispenser.
A feed roller 9 and a contra-roller 10 are disposed close to and opposed to each other, so as to promote separation of a stacked sheet of the media from another sheet and transfer the single separated sheet. That is, the media are separated and transferred one sheet at a time by the feed roller 9 and the contra-roller 10 while each sheet passes through a gap between the feed roller 9 and the contra-roller 10 rotating in the same direction.
Each sheet of the media, having passed through the gap between the feed roller 9 and the contra-roller 10, is transferred by a feed roller or a belt provided at a delivery module (not shown).
However, the aforementioned related art has problems. The media m, which are stacked in the media cassette 1, have various sizes. Nevertheless, the media cassette 1 cannot change the way it supports or guides the media m based on the media's size and thus cannot be used for media m of various sizes. Therefore, different media cassettes 1 must be provided to accommodate respective sizes of the media m. Having many different sized media cassettes 1 to accommodate different sizes of media is expensive to the manufacturer in design costs and inventory space, and expensive to the media dispenser purchaser since several different media cassettes may need to be purchased.